I enjoyed having coffee with you this past week. As I listened to you, I heard areas where you talked about your church growing and ideas that you are considering. My own church planting experience and evangelism experiences are still very fresh for me. I am convinced that a great church can happen anywhere. Location is not everything in matters of the Spirit. Examples of this are everywhere. The more disadvantaged a situation, the more God can and often will be glorified. God loves to be glorified in our weakness, so we can see how strong God truly is…and that God is for us (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Three things that I heard while I was with you (in my own language):

1. Meeting in a Community Center has its strengths and struggles

2. A desire to reach young families and develop a thriving children’s ministry

3. Outreach in the community

Some ideas that may contribute (or may not)…I always say to try on ideas like clothes…leave the ones that don’t fit on the rack. A few thoughts…

First, Bob you are right on when you say that meeting in a Community Center is a real plus. You mentioned the great facilities you have access to use. Perhaps there is additional outreach value/impact in having a tag line like _____ Church, in the community with the love of Jesus Christ… some statement that says you are living your values in the community for the community. The authenticity of where you meet communicates your love. Meeting in a Community Center is obviously mission driven. If you do not already have it, we could make a small invite card with a map which explains what you are doing and reaches out to invite others. Having this invitation as part of the Sunday bulletin puts an invitation into your attendee’s hands every meeting every week. It also helps to control your printing costs.

Your locals will like your realness and authentic loving proximity. Not being in a “church” is a great advantage in reaching the un-churched! And, the mission of Jesus Christ is driven towards the unreached. “Those who are well have no need of a physician,” Luke 5:31. 70% (Dr. Ed Stetzer) to 90% (Dennis Gingrich, South Florida church planting expert) of your locals have no interest in being connected to a church. You are genuinely and intentionally present for those who have not experienced the joyful Good News of Jesus Christ – experiencing the joy of being part of God-at-work healing our broken world. There are also the realities of attractional verses incarnational ecclesiology to consider. Seeking the currently churched requires a full-service church. Seeking the unchurched does not….seek out the unchurched.

Second, your location has ample space for a thriving children’s ministry. Some initial steps to take you there would be to have lots of good pictures demonstrating your children’s ministry and ways to involve your children in every service before transitioning them to your children’s ministry program. This gives you the chance to “sell” your ministry to everyone every week and to educate your attendee’s to spread the word. Communicating what you are doing in your children’s ministry at the start of your service allows parents time to let go of their children. The group experience of the church’s children leaving both helps the parents to let go and helps the children to go. Children’s sermons are great for this. But, there are other ways to do this as well. You can simply have a time for children’s ministry. Remember that your parents want both a “safe place” to help raise their children in faith, and the parents need a moment of child free rest. But first, parents want to “see” how you will love and care for their children in several ways before they go of them.

PortableChurch.com has easy children’s ministry in a large durable box on wheels that can store easily, unpack quickly, and be packed up easily after service. You can purchase programs, curriculum, systems for checking in and tracking children, as well as pagers to alert parent when they are needed. I had everything portable in my Church planting. It is easy to do. Getting a few young families involved can always start as a church focus and kick start or revitalize your children’s ministry. Be sure to get pictures into your invite materials and onto your web site.

Third, and good to have after you have a children’s ministry in place, you mentioned an outreach. This is an excellent training web site http://noba.e-quip.net/presentations/show/1344 for block parties which can help you think through most everything. It may have some ideas that fit and some that don’t. Overall, it is an excellent resource. Partnering with another church plant or smaller church of equal size and development can defer your cost and increase your resources for the event without feeling uncomfortable.

God bless and I am looking forward to getting to know you better,

Rev. Roy D. Shaff

Colson writes, “As if preordained, the outcome was clear; the evils of Hitler and fascism would be conquered.” Colson goes on to compare the invasion of Normandy to the invasion of God on Christmas Day:

It was a quiet invasion. Few people understood what was happening. Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew that she was with child, but she also knew that she had never been with a man, not even Joseph, to whom she was engaged. She had learned of her pregnancy and what was to be a virgin birth when an angel told her that she was pregnant with the Son of God…. Most of the people in Palestine at the time of Jesus’ birth were expecting a Messianic invasion like we saw at D-day—conquerors in armor bringing a sword to set the people free from oppression. Jesus only added to the bewilderment of the people who knew Him when He announced: “The time has come …. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). This was the time the Jews had waited for, for so long? Liberation? And who was this ordinary Nazarene carpenter to say he was bringing in the Kingdom of God?

It can be hard to remember that the coming of Emmanuel won the war over death’s power to suck the life out of us. Emmanuel has come and the bills are still due, our job may be lost, we may dread every minute in an abusive job that we cannot leave, foreclosure papers may be sitting on our table. We can feel empty from bankruptsy losses, theft, or the betrayal of a trusted friend. If the economy has not mowed us down, our relationships can hurt, the actions of others may double us over in pain, our health may be failing, the memory one we have lost may overcome us as we face Christmas without them. The power of death can make Hitler sound like a petty past tyrant. Hitler lived and died. However horrid, Hitler was only a man. Who can stop the power of death? Death is not a man. We cannot kill it. It cannot die. But, it can be overcome!

Romans 6:6-11 (the Message)- Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God.

This is the POWER of the Christ child’s Advent. As D-day turned a world at war, Emmanuel’s arrival guarantees every future battle. Everything has changed. The war to find a meaningful life has been won! We will face remaining battles in our own “concentration camps” as our hope arrives. So, listen and hear the Spirit of God. The Spirit of Advent is near to you for the glory of God and revealed in the Gospel. Share in this hope! No matter what your “concentration camp” of hopelessness, as you find the power of God to change your life, every attack of death will begin turning toward victory. Have faith.

“God energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. Those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.” Isaiah 40: 30-31 (the Message)

The Kingdom of God has come. It is here! Gather with those who also know this to be true and the power of death will lose its hold over you!  

Charles Spurgeon preached the following on June 17, 1855: I know a village, once, perhaps, the most wicked in England-a village inundated by drunkenness and wickedness of the worst kind, where it was almost impossible for an honest traveler to stop in the city without being annoyed by dense profanity; a place noted for arsons and robbers. One man, the ringleader, listened to the voice of God. That man’s heart was broken. The whole gang came to hear the gospel preached, and they sat and seemed to reverence the preacher as if he were a god, and not a man. These men were changed and reformed; and everyone who knows the place affirms that such a change had no other explanation than that it had been accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let the gospel be preached and the Holy Spirit poured out, and you will see that it has the power to change the conscience, to improve the conduct, to raise the debased, to chastise and to curb the wickedness of men and women. The change will be so noticeable that you must give the glory to God. I say, there is nothing like the power of the Holy Spirit. Only let that come, and, indeed, everything can be accomplished.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8   

The Christ child has come. His Spirit resides with us. The gates of hell (or depression, or poverty, or ill health, or betrayal, or any manner of evil) cannot endure before us!  Matthew 16:18  

Have faith and do not lose heart! Luke 18:1-8

There is something wrong with this picture. I love Jesus. I don’t think the deep meaning in Jesus’ “saving me” is to find great bargains at Walmart. How caught up are we in holiday bargain shopping? How caught up are we in the power Jesus has to make us content with what we already have? What exactly did Jesus “save us” to find this holiday season? It would be a shame to unwrap the wrong gift.

It would be a shame to unwrap the wrong gift.

Chicken farmers have a great trick for fattening birds. They put a few hens in the yard to eat their fill. Then, they release more hungry hens. As the new birds feverishly peck grain, the full birds start to eat again…just as fast. They do not want to miss out! The farmer does this several times a day. The hens plump up nicely for our grocery store aisles. I like a nice chicken dinner. I do not want to be the chicken.  

Now that the holiday shopping season has started, I can see the frenzy. I’ll be honest. I like a good deal too. Christmas is coming. Wise shopping can put extra gifts under our tree. I like to praise God for good deals! My loved ones are shopping too. They are spending money. What if I don’t give them an equal gift?   

Still, consumption without reflection is credulity. I do not want to be the chicken consumer who takes more because wave after wave of hungry shoppers snatch goods off the shelves. Consumer “feeding frenzy” is real. We love stuff! And, loving stuff can lead to all kinds of trouble (1 Timothy 6:10).

Still, consumption without reflection is credulity.

I first read this suggestion from Jim Wallis. It has blessed me. Make you decisions about gift giving in conversation with your friends and family. Get everybody on the same page before all the spending happens. You could try sending around this blog post to get the conversation going. Your values, not commercials, should inform how you show your gratefulness to those you love. 

Did Jesus “save you” to find something deeper this year?

Neglecting a newborn is unthinkable! We would arrest someone who abandoned a newborn. We would call Family Services if a parent failed to feed a newborn every few hours. Hospitals carefully manage their resources to provide quality newborn care. The Neonatal Ward is the most carefully watched, wisely funded, and secure place in the entire hospital. Now…if the Church is a spiritual “hospital for sinners,” how will we manage our Neonatal Ward?

Jesus made sure that scripture recorded his point. He stared down his most impetuous disciple and demanded (βόσκε – imperitive verb), “Feed my lambs!” the value of caring for the spiritual newborns has been set. Answering an evangelist’s public call is not enough. Becoming a member is not enough. Without subsequent feeding, the act of beginning becomes a dead-end.  

Jesus demanded, “Feed my lambs!”

We cringe as we hear John Wesley storming at his preachers, “How dare you lead people to Christ without providing adequate opportunity for growth and nurture! Anything less is simply begetting children for the murderer.”

We all carry dreams of what we hope for the spiritual newborns in our churches: eager, committed, young Christians who devour Scripture daily, changing lifestyles, fervent participation in public worship, service in the church, praying and seeing answers prayer, and speaking openly of a new allegiance to Christ without embarrassment. Deep within, we know these results are not guaranteed, and if they fail to materialize, we rightly assume that it will be more our fault than anyone else’s.

Matthew tells us how to help spiritual newborns establish their spiritual life as he interprets Jesus’ “Parable of the Sower” (Matthew 13:1-23 see below). Matthew unpacks the disastrous spiritual journeys of many early Jesus-followers. They “made the decision” to follow Jesus. They left jobs, responsibilities, and many hopes behind to find their answers in Jesus and in his teaching. Many lost their way. While they made the decision to “follow Jesus,” they never became lasting disciples.

 ¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ²Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹He who has ears, let him hear.”  ¹⁰The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”  ¹¹He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables: ”Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ” ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  ¹⁵For this people’s heart has become  calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,  hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

 ¹⁸“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²²The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Matthew identifies three principal “high risk” areas for spiritual-newborn care:

• 1.  Because (v.18) parts of the message can be poorly understood, we need to nurture understanding.
• 2.  Because (v.20-21) roots can fail to take, we need to nurture the newborn’s emotional and intellectual identity in Christ and among God’s people.
• 3.  Because (v.22) the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth can choke out life, we need to nurture their spiritual strength for their immediate specific worries and financial burdens.

These are the presenting needs for every church’s “Spiritual Neonatal Care Unit.” There are many ways for churches to plan for these needs. There are many “ways to raise a baby.” No church can claim a final answer. From these principles we can reflect, plan, study, imagine, and pick and choose in order “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all … become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12–13).

I posted this on my Facebook page. You can imagine the comments that followed. Some asked “what else can there be?” A few thought I was a heretic. Some reminded me that, “Jesus meets our needs” in our suffering. I certainly agree with that! So, saying that “Jesus is all we need” is sort of true. Still, hearing “Jesus is all I need” continues to bother me.

Genesis describes our basic human needs in relationship with God. God begins with Adam. They live together in Eden. One person, living intimately with God, and no sin…if God is all “we need,” this should have been ideal. God said this alone was NOT good. So, is Jesus really “all we need?” Not according to Genesis….

God tells us that, even in a life of sinless transparency, human beings living in isolated communion with God have an incomplete life. Yes, there was a season for Adam to be alone with God. There may be seasons for many. Perhaps a few have a special calling. However, a life of isolated communion with God is not God’s plan for healthy human life. God said, “It is NOT good” for a person to be alone. People need healthy relationships with other people. God said, “No man is an island” long before John Donne. So, is “Jesus all we need”?  No.

Genesis also shows our need for purpose. God sent Adam and Eve to tend the Garden. Even with a perfect relationship with God, even with an intimate healthy family, even while living in sinless transparency, something was still missing! God sends Adam and Eve to do purposeful work. God sends them to a creative vocation. We all need fulfilling work to do. We need purpose. God taught  that before Rick Warren….

God created us with these needs. They build upon our relationship with God. Yes, we all need a healthy relationship with God….more than anything else! Still, God created us to need even more! To say, “Jesus is all I need” misses this important truth. Should we flush this truth down the toilet so we can have a catchy chorus?

Taken literally, saying that “Jesus is all I need” ignores Scripture’s teaching about God’s intentions for our lives. Unless we start tearing whole chapters out of the Bible and throwing them into the trash, we need a theology deeper than “Jesus is all I need” to describe a healthy life. After all, if Adam had turned to God and said “you are all I need,” God would have said, “No…I did not make you that way.” Go, take a second look at the creation story. This is how it reads.

When we sing, “Jesus is all I need” in church, we are singing hyperbole. Like the man and woman who look into each other’s eyes and declare in romantic abandon, “All I need is you!”  Hyperbole is real truth! It has a place in our witness and worship. Christians call on their Savior in  pain and in hardship and find strength in their time of need. Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 6-7), looked past his accusers and looked past a wall of flying stones to see a vision of Jesus. Believers find a certain and reliable strength in their relationship with God. We need not fear our broken world! This is worth shouting about!  

It is also hyperbole. We should remember that hyperbole is paradox. Hyperbole can be both wonderfully true in a single sense and blatantly false in another. There is both a remarkable truth in saying that “Jesus is all I need,” and a bigger picture where God has a purpose for our lives in relationship with others and a purpose for us to live out in the world. 

So, what about Sunday morning? Should we sing, “Jesus is all I need?” Without some explanation, some will hear a Christian message that too simple for a complicated and very broken world. Why don’t we replace “Jesus is all I need” with “Jesus can meet our every need”…at lease some of the time?  If not, can we at least explain what we intend with our singing? Hyperbole is a tough concept for Sunday morning.

In the weeks ahead, I will post several “Free Church Resource Grab Bags.” These posts will contain links to free ministry resources that you can use to build your ministry. Please send me your ideas and I will add them to my posts. The links in this post came from Church Marketing Sucks. Be sure to look at the Church marketing blogs  below. Look at what other churches are doing. There are great ideas out there! You do not (often) need to “reinvent the wheel” in your ministry.

Church Resource Websites
CreativeMYK http://www.creativemyk.com/
Open Resources http://www.openresources.org/
The Vine http://vineresources.com/
Muddy River Media http://www.muddyrivermedia.org/
Fourty One Twenty http://www.fortyonetwenty.com
Igniter Media http://www.ignitermedia.com
Eleven 72 http://www.eleven72.com
Lifechurch Resources http://open.lifechurch.tv
Newspring Resources http://www.newspringonline.com/
Granger Resources http://www.wiredchurches.com

Photo Hosting Websites
Flickr http://www.flickr.com
Stock Photo http://www.istockphoto.com/
Stock Photo Xchange http://www.sxc.hu
Corbis Photos http://www.corbis.com
Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com

Video Hosting Websites
Ustream http://www.ustream.com
YouTube http://www.youtube.com
Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com
Viddler http://www.viddler.com
MySpaceTV http://vids.myspace.com
Jumpcut http://www.jumpcut.com
Vidilife http://vidilife.com

Great Blogs for Creativity, Pop Culture, Media, Church Trends
MTV News http://www.mtv.com/news/
Spray Graphics http://spraygraphics.com/
Web Urbanist http://weburbanist.com/
Ragamuffin Soul http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com
Collide Blog http://www.collidemagazine.com/blog
Relevant Blog http://relevantmagazine.com/releblog/
Rolling Stone http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily
Churchy Media http://churchymedia.tumblr.com
Church Marketing Sucks http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com
Church 2.0 http://church20.blogspot.com
Church Video Ideas http://churchvideoideas.com

This is a new video distributed by The Bay of The Holy Spirit Revival. It is worth taking a look at. This blog is a continuing conversation about the healing of Delia Knox. To catch up on the conversation see my September 2 blog on Delia’s healing.

My first response….I think this looks real.

I have a friend of Delia’s who emailed me. She, like many others, is convinced that this is real. I do not have permission to share her name or e-mail on my blog. You can find a comment of hers in response to my September 2 blog on Delia’s healing.

This friend also told me that there is a some “name-it-and-claim-it” nonsense at this revival. If some of the preaching is truly unsound, the Bay of the Holy Spirit Revival raises many questions for Churches to consider:

• Should we believe that God moves amidst seroiously unsound preaching?
• If “name-it-and-and-claim it” preaching is spiritual abuse, and hurts people, why is God doing miracles amidst spiritual abusers?
• Should we go to these revivals?
• Why isn’t God doing miracles amidst the sound preaching of Scripture?
• Does God care more about the hungry faith in our heart than the doctrinal correctness in our head?

Some passages come to mind as I think about this revival:

Deut. 13: 1-5, “If a prophet…appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder,” and through it leads people astray, “you must not listen to the words of that prophet….” Moses thought the unexamined prophet was dangerous. He said, “That prophet must be put to death.”

Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets,” Matt. 7:15, and “false prophets will appear,” Matt. 24:4. The Apostle John said, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits and whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone into the world,” 1 Jn 4:1.

I also think of Paul’s passage written while he was in prison:

Philippians 1:8 “But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.”

Time will tell. Real public healings are unquestionable (see my Sept 2 blog).  Please THINK as you watch this video. Anyone who suggests that believers should “turn their brains off” because a church has a convincing YouTube video must read a bizarrely self-contradictory Bible.

God may be healing her. I am going to wait and see. I have not seen medical documentation credibly establishing Delia’s level of mobility before these “miracles.” If Delia continues to improve and dumps the wheelchair altogether, I may believe this is God at work. I want to see some medical documentation. If Delia was unable to move or feel anything for over 20 years, there will be ample medical documentation. Where is it? I am already half-convinced. Please…show me more.  It sure looks real.

I am bothered by the questionability of this healing and that there is reported “name it-and-claim-it” preaching. Did Delia connect with God and find a miracle…I hope so!  

Paul’s words may be teaching us here,“…that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice” Philippians 1:8.

Time will tell.

I am not criticizing an occasional mistake from the pulpit. I have made those too. I am concerned about a consistent misunderstanding of two generic terms for deity used in Hebrew Scripture.  

We ask our listeners to trust the truth in our messages…enough to make life-changing decisions about who to follow in life and where they will spend eternity. My friends, it is difficult to trust a preacher with such important matters if we are misusing common words in our messages.

When the Bible was being written, El, the generic term for a god, and Elohim, a plural polytheistic term, were in common use throughout the ancient world. They were as common and as generic as the phrase “Higher Power” is today. If you are familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous, you probably know that AA encourages followers to find a Higher Power, whatever they believe it to be. This was the kind of vague meaning behind the terms El and Elohim. The Bible’s writers used the terms El and Elohim in the same way that we use the English word “God.” El and Elohim are not special or intimate names for God. They as vague and inspecific as the english word ”God.” 

  The Biblical writers used Elohim with a singular verb to describe the one-true-living God who was their savior from Egyptian slavery:

 “Know therefore that Yahweh thy Elohim, he is Elohim, the faithful Elohim, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,” Deut. 7:9

 “If Yahweh be Elohim, follow him,” 1 Kings 18:21 “That this people may know that thou art Yahweh Elohim,” 1 Kings 18:37

 “Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightest know Yahweh; he is Elohim; there is none else beside him,” Deut. 4:35.

 Scripture uses the general word for “God” to proclaim that the “God” who led Israel out of Egypt is the one-true-living ”God” who is alive among the Hebrews (Ex. 20:2 f.) and is the only real “God” (Isa. 45:18–23).

I am trying to share my faith with several friends around the country….I want them to know Jesus Christ. One of them may walk into your church. Please do your homework.

May God bless you for your faithfulness!

Note: The above information can be found in the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), Vol. 1, pg 267 ff.

I have several friends who have shared this video with me. It shows a very convincing partial-healing miracle. I have Facebook friends who have attended this church. They talk about their immediate friends who know the Bishop (in this video) and his wife (who was healed) very well. This apparent healing has been a topic of conversation for many people that I know. I have found myself very concerned by what I see in this video. You will need to see the video (above) to understand what I am discussing here. This video is very moving. You can fast forward though parts if your time is limited.

This is a good opportunity to consider one specific question that we face in ministry today. Are Miraculous healings ever questionable or progressive? I have heard enough second hand reports to believe that there is nothing fake in this video. The woman in this video is a “Bishop’s wife.” Her name is Delia. She is clearly sincere. The people around her love her and are sincere. It is public knowledge that Delia has been in a wheelchair for 23 years since a car accident. Her degree of mobility before the church service is not disclosed (this is important to remember). Church members claim that Delia has experienced a “progressive” healing. Today, Delia is still using her wheelchair and seeing a physical therapist.  This is an “apparent partial-healing.” Church members state that Delia has been healed; but, her ongoing wheelchair use and therapy are helping her with atrophied muscles that were not healed during her “healing.” This video provides a good context for considering “partial healing” or “questionable” healing miracles in the church.    

Are Miraculous healings ever questionable or progressive?

I am going to suggest a Biblical paradigm to guide us in these matters. I am not offering an academic treatise. If you have read scripture for a while, I believe you can agree with my two general observations. As I read Scripture, I see two types of “healings” in the NT. The first and most common NT healing discussed is public healing. Public healings act as a testimony to the truth of the Christian message. The Biblical pattern (that I see) for public healings includes “undeniability.”  This was the case in all OT Prophetic ministry, all of Jesus’ ministry, and all of the Apostle’s ministry. There is no exception. The NT healings serve as miraculous proof for the message of Jesus Christ. Genuine public healings are miracles that demonstrate the truth of the Gospel.  

If we consider this clear Biblical pattern…we can deduce that a public healing which is not clearly “undeniable,” is clearly hype. The Bible demonstrates that genuine miracles are as “undeniable” as the Gospel is “undeniably” true. Miracles do not exist for their own sake. Miracles are never questionable to those present to observe them. They are signs of the Kingdom of God to help us “undeniably” believe.   

The Bible demonstrates that genuine miracles are as “undeniable” as the Gospel is “undeniably” true.

The second type of NT healing takes place as part of ongoing pastoral care. James (5:14-16) supplies our primary passage describing healing in the context of ongoing pastoral care. When the church faithfully prays for its own members, as ongoing pastoral care, some will be healed. Some will not be healed. James offers little explanation in his treatment of the subject. James description of prayer for the sick is clearly not dependant on the faith of the person being prayed for…James expects the church to have faith in praying for its sick. James reminds the church that confessing our sins to one another is part of the healing in the pastoral care experience. This type of pastoral care is not a public service.

So, what is normative for the believer? God leaves us in this broken world to show his salvation amidst sickness and despair. Only a Christ follower can find genuine hope in the face of despair. The unbelieving world will want to understand our hope. We proclaim the Gospel in response. Paul was left with an infirmity for his testimony. We will have sickness and physical trials as well. Healings are clearly expected and do occur on the NT. They are not normative.  We should pray for them. We should expect them. They will be rare.

In this world, we will have tribulation not escape. But, we can be of good cheer (through our overcoming relationship with God) because He has overcome the world.  Overcoming the despair of brokenness is normative! We should expect God’s strength to get us through all and every hardship. We do not get a get out of jail (sickness) free card.

My heart hurts as I watch this video. In this video, church members hold out hope to a wheelchair bound woman. This is a public church service (a public healing). There is no demonstration of “unquestionability.” There may be lots of sincerity. However, I do not see proof of anything beyond hope-filled-hype. Adrenaline and deep belief can do amazing things. If Delia already had the potential for modest mobility…this is extremely cruel!

While I believe that Delia’s own church loves her and would not hurt her on purpose. I am concerned is that she may have been hurt in a movement of peer pressure and religious hope. Did they damage weak muscles? Nerves?  Connecting tissue? If this woman came to this healing service with this same level of mobility (and never gains more), will this cause a severe emotional trauma that she and her family will take years to work through?  

I do not have definitive answers to these questions. I offer a personal opinion. To me this video looks like a testimony of public healing. This video does not fit the Biblical pattern. I believe that the people in this video are entirely sincere. It is possible to be both sincere and wrong. We have a clear Biblical pattern to guide our faith and practice. This video makes me sad.

It is possible to be both sincere and wrong.

One final comment on a related matter….I believe that Satan has duped the church into adopting an extra Biblical healing language out of misplaced zeal and in spiritual hubris. There is a heretical idea floating around which states that our belief creates or leads to our healing. While there is a relationship between our trust and God’s actions, God’s actions are clearly not exclusively dependent upon our trust. Proclaiming that we have received a miracle before it has been unquestionably demonstrated is credulity (intellectual nonsense). Our “faith” does not create miracles. Our trust in the God of miracles creates faith!     

I also think we should lovingly remind each other that the Bible does not teach that believers can “lose their healing.” Neither progressive healing (as it is discussed in churches today) nor lost healings appear anywhere in the Bible or in early church history. The Biblical pattern teaches us that we cannot honestly disbelieve in a miracle. The “sign” nature of a genuine miracle is demonstrated in it’s unquestionability.

So, did we just watch a church “help” an adrenalin charged hope-to-be-healed handicapped woman leave  her wheelchair? Did this church parade her around the room because they wanted to create a miracle “by faith,” a miracle that has not actually happened? Even with the best intentions, this is a heart wrenching thought.   

Dr. Russ Rentler, a medical doctor, who works with handicapped patients similar to Delia just commented on this blog (see comments below). He described how this cannot be an example of healing. Are the thousands of Christians posting this video on FB sharing a video of spiritual abuse? This question should be asked. I hope this is not the case.

What do you think?

To read my response to the NEW Bay of The Holy Spirit Revival video of Delia walking unassisted click here.

Many of us know Anne for her vampire novels. You may have seen the movie made from her book “An Interview with a Vampire.” She has also been known for her return to her Christian faith. Now Anne is known for leaving it.

Anne Rice went on to say,“I remain committed to Christ as always…but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For 10 years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

 “In the name of Christ,” she wrote, “I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life.”

I saw an interview with Anne Rice and Joy Behr on CNN. Anne Rice described her need to walk away from Christianity to “find her answers.” She said that she is still following after Jesus. But, Anne does not believe that she will find her path in the Christian church.

I remain committed to Christ as always…but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity ~ Anne Rice

I understand her distress with the church. May people have horrible church stories. If you have not read any good ones lately, read Phillip Yancey’s book Soul Survivor. He describes his journey of following Jesus in spite of the Church.

Anne Rice has reminds us of the continuing change in the American Religion. The American Religious Identification Survey, which polled more than 54,000 American adults, found that the percentage who call themselves Christian has fallen by 10 since 1990 (from 86.2 percent to 76 percent) while the percentage of those who claim no religious affiliation has almost doubled (from 8.2 to 15) in the same span. There are lost of people leaving the Christian Church.

I can understand people saying, “If that’s faith, count me out.” We have heard Jerry Falwell blamed the Sept. 11 attacks on the ACLU. Pat Robertson explained that Haiti’s earthquake was an “ancient curse.” There are nuts on TV asking for money in Jesus name, promising healing, or saying Jesus died so you can have “Your Best Life!” There are heart-breaking trends in the church that simply push thinking people out the door.

So how we talk about Ann Rice? Personally, I have listened to interviews with Anne. I have found her (in the past) to be a sincere Christian. Now, I question her commitment to her savior. Yes, I know that sounds harsh. However, when we are faithful in our relationship with Christ, we follow the direction of scripture to “never cease gathering together” (Hebrews 10:25). When we have a problem, we are called to share our concerns with others and find the answers we need.

Yes, Anne is seeking. This is not a black and white event. I will not pretend it is. There may be an untold story we do not know about. Anne may need some space right now. I hope Anne finds her answers and returns to a Christian fellowship where she can share in God’s work of healing our broken world.

We also need to point out that Anne Rice wimped out on her fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. My advice for Anne…don’t be a wimp! Join with other believers in seeking the answers we all need for a healthy church. Jesus commanded his followers to “feed my lambs.” Not bail on them!

Discussion Questions:

Consider the scripture passage referenced in the article above.

 Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

1. Is it ever ok to walk away from Church? If so why? Or, why not?

2. Did Anne Rice bail on her Savior? What about her commitment to her brothers and sisters in Christ?

3. Did Anne leave Christianity altogether?

4. What do you think of the decline in Americans claiming a Christian faith?

5. Is leaving the Church or the label “Christianity” the same as leaving your faith?

6. Would you ever leave your faith?